Abstract
A new mechanism of harmonics generation (HG) induced by quantum electrodynamics (QED) effects in extreme intense laser foil interaction is found and investigated by particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations. When two laser pulses with identical intensities of 1.6 × 1024 W cm-2 are counterincident on a thin foil target, harmonics emission is observed in their reflected electromagnetic waves. Such harmonics radiation is excited due to transversely oscillating electric currents coming from the vibration of QED effect generated e-e+ pairs. The effects of laser intensity and polarization were studied. By distinguishing the cascade depth of generated photons and pairs, the influence of QED cascades on HG was analyzed. Although the current HG is not an efficient way for radiation source applications, it may provide a unique way to detect the QED processes in the near future ultra-relativistic laser solid interactions.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 044011 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion |
| Volume | 60 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| Early online date | 28 Feb 2018 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 30 Apr 2018 |
Funding
This work was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2013CBA01504) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11774227, 11655002, 11721091). Simulations were performed on the Π Supercomputer at Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Tianhe II supercomputer at Guangzhou.
Keywords
- laser plasma interaction
- PIC simulation
- QED plasma